One question that everyone keeps asking is- Why the nights in Bulbbul are red? And this includes my parents. The best part about the red nights is that they are NOT filters. The essence of the movie is in its production and art direction. The lights reflect the strength of the visual storytelling of Anvita Dutt, the director of Bulbbul. Instead of using it mildly, she went all the way out. The exposure was so high that made me wonder whether it was a filter or artificial lighting. To remove any confusion, the Director placed the color- Yellow at different points in red night scenes. A filter would not have the same effect in painting the story of Bulbbul.
The color- Yellow is seen complementing red in the form of a lantern, fire, or secondary lighting.
Christopher Nolan always reminds us of the importance of practical effects, even though the availability of VFX is at arm's length. We should applaud Anvita Dutt’s efforts to bring back the importance of art director and production design in a periodic story. Another director who has achieved excellence in visualizing a periodic story is Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
If you notice, the nights were not red in the first half of the STORY, where we see a younger Bulbbul getting married and welcomed in the haveli. She grows up to be an innocent, humble, and kind person around Satya, Binodini, Thakur, and Mahendra. But, the unnaturally blue nights were yet to turn red. The color Blue is the exact opposite of Red if we place them in a color ring, and so is Bulbbul in both halves of her story.
Anvita Dutt kept the film nonlinear. A nonlinear film acts as a salt to suspense. She used this format to stun the audience at certain reveal points, one of which is the brutality experienced by Bulbbul. The conversion of the nights in red is revealed later in the story. There is a dedicated scene to show the transition- a wide shot of the Devi temple and the moon behind it turns into red.
Research shows that various colors affect our minds differently. Green will always give you a sense of life, acceptance, and peace. Yellow provides warmth, and comfort, and is sometimes even used as a highlighter. The human eye can spot yellow faster in a pool of colors, which is why sometimes directors use it to control the focus point of the audience on a screen. However, if one increases the yellow content to the level of red used in Bulbbul, it can create a sense of chaos; for example- Extraction (outdoor shots of Bangladesh), and Kaante (all the outdoor scenes).
On the other hand, Red represents the motive of Bulbbul. It puts emphasis on revenge, anger, and her attempt to rectify the unjust treatment of women. Bulbbul has faced a social injustice herself. She was married off at the age of ten (or below), and moreover, she was under the impression that her husband was the younger boy (Satya). However, eventually, she develops an attachment to Satya. To call this attachment ‘romantic’ would be an insult. Satya to Bulbbul was a friend, companion, and confidant. They share an emotional space of cognitive empathy, along with a novel where both take turns in writing.
Thakur was deeply bothered by this connection. He decides to send Satya away. Satya is kind, innocent, and respectful to his eldest brother. So, when Thakur expressed his wish to send Satya away to study law in London, Satya wholeheartedly granted it. Bulbbul was not prepared for his departure, and hence, ended up being adversely affected by the same.
BULBBUL IN GREEN & YELLOW
There is a scene where Satya and Bulbul are alone at their usual meeting place- an outhouse facing a pond. We figure out from their conversation that the outhouse is also where they write the novel together.
Satya wants to paint the place blue, the same as Bulbbul’s childhood house. This scene is important because it shows us how close they are to each other. It also hints to us that Bulbbul always felt at home even after marriage, owing to him. Satya knows that his presence makes her feel at home, and absence would bring her homesickness, so he offers to paint the house blue, in the hope of keeping Bulbbul ongoing. The colors Green and Yellow are dominant in the scene above, which also resonates with the emotions of Bulbbul at that moment.
As I pointed out before, the color Green brings a sense of life, acceptance, and peace; ‘Life’ is seen in Bulbbul with the way she smiles and laughs with Satya. ‘Acceptance’ is captured when Bulbbul shows her indifference to the color of the outhouse. ‘Peace’ is portrayed through the still water, covered in duckweed- causing the pond to look green.
On the other hand, the second color Yellow compliments the scene with its warmth and comfort. Both of which Bulbbul finds in the outhouse and Satya.
BULBBUL IN BLUE
Blue represents coldness, loneliness, lies, and even sorrow (recall the color of sadness in the Oscar winning animated feature- Inside Out). These characteristics have a significant place in the behavior of Bulbbul when Satya goes away. She experiences loneliness while seated on her bed, holding the novel. She even lies to Thakur upon being questioned about the novel. Later we see her on the same bed, lying with her injuries. Both the times, the color blue dominates.
Seeing Bulbbul affected by the departure of Satya, Thakur loses his mind, and beats her with a fireplace poker, causing her ankle bones to shatter. The next day while Bulbbul recovers, Thakur leaves the house to live in exile. Mohendra, who is the twin autistic brother of Thakur, finds Bulbbul in her condition and rapes her. The combined pain from Mohendra’s penetration and her twisted ankles leads to her demise.
BULBBUL IN RED
This scares Mohendra and he rushes back into his room. This is a turning point in the story because it marks the spiritual conversion of Bulbbul into a Devi, which is hinted metaphorically through the conversion of the moon into red.
Thereafter, Bulbbul uses this avatar of Devi or Kaali-maa (the divine mother) to bring justice to all the women who face a similar fate by a man. The red nights are symbolic of the presence of Kaali-Maa, who represents anger, revenge, fear, night of death.
Bulbbul put an end to the lives of five men who denied women the values they deserve. While three out of five are the cause of her anger, two of them, Mohendra and Thakur, are the cause of her revenge. And fear is represented through the residents of the town that consider her a ‘witch’.
Bulbbul is also seen taking charge of the town as the LADY of the haveli. She manages the town and brings order in the absence of her husband. This maintains a balance. Except now we know that Bulbbul takes the form of Devi every time a man attempts to tip the scales by turning into a demon.
The next question that arises is- Do other characters see the nights as red?
The answer is, No!
We can because we are there to absorb the story through Bulbbul’s perspective. The color- Green, Yellow, Blue, and Red does more than just visually appeal to us. The colors represent the emotions of Bulbbul from beginning to end. When you finish reading this, I suggest you watch the movie again but this time, allow the colors to engender emotions for you.
Some food for thought– Mahendra is the only character to respond to the conversion of night into red. Is he special because he led to the demise of Bulbbul? Or, is it because he is ‘Special’?
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